Happy Wednesday! NaLu heavy chapter ahead. Just the usual fun fluff before the next arc. Plenty of action next chapter.

13

Lucy shifted a bag of groceries to her other arm, propping it on her hip as she fished her house key out, unlocked the door and held it open for Natsu who was juggling a few bags himself. Following him in, the blonde placed her groceries on the counter next to the ones the pinkette had put down as she yawned loudly. "It is good to be home," she announced happily and began putting the groceries away as Natsu snagged a beer from her fridge and dropped on to her couch in the living room with a content sigh of his own. She eyed him as he kicked his boots off and lounged back taking a swig of his drink, smiling despite herself, "you do remember that this is not your home, right?"

"Might as well be with the amount of time I spend here!" He laughed out, Lucy rolled her eyes and pulled out a cutting board to begin chopping an array of veggies. It was surprisingly nice to be home doing something as mundane as prepping dinner after a month of camping with refugees, subsisting on scraps of food, irregular showers and desperately searching for their comrades. Then there was the terrifying battle with the demon, she didn't want to dwell on that much; though she was incredibly happy that that particular shadow had been lifted from her friend's hearts and they could finally move forward. Lucy's eyes drifted around her pristinely clean apartment as she paused in her chopping, landing on the pile of notebooks and unmailed letters on her desk. At some point this evening she'd take some time to write a letter to her mom, it was a necessary cathartic process that helped her process the good and the bad of her experiences. Lucy hummed as she took in the melting pinks of the sky beyond her window when Natsu's sudden movement drew her attention. She snuck a peek at the fire mage who at one point had been sprawled on her couch and was now sitting stalk straight and sniffing at the air. When his eyes met hers, she raised a questioning brow at him, "hey Luce, have you had someone new over recently?"

"No… how could I have, we've been gone over a month," she countered, "why?"

"There's a new smell in here that I don't recognize," he explained.

"The land lady maybe?" Lucy dropped the veggies in a large bowl with oil and seasonings and tossed them.

"Nah, I know her smell, unfortunately."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, can you do me a favor and lightly seer this meat for me?"

Natsu took one last sniff of the air, frowned and dismissed it as he made his way over to help Lucy with dinner, controlled flames already licking at his fingertips.

Lucy put the meat and veggies into the oven and placed a pot of rice to boil before snagging a can of lemonade from the fridge and flopped down on the other end of the couch to Natsu. The blonde popped the tab on her can, and leaned back into the couch, her eyes closed and a huge grin across her face. The pinkette arched a brow and shifted his weight onto his elbow as he watched her, "careful, your face might freeze in that goofy grin," he teased.

Her eyes shot open and she whipped a pillow at him that he caught before laughing at her mock outrage, "what are you thinking about Lucy?"

The stellar mage shifted on the couch to face him and pulled her knees to her chest, "just that I must be insane."

"I think a little insanity is a prerequisite to being a Fairy Tail mage." He told her with a wink.

She chuckled behind a hand, "you're probably right," she finally took a long gulp of her drink. "It's been just over four months since you practically dragged me to Fairy Tail, and in that four months, my life has been on the line multiple times." She placed a thoughtful finger at her chin as her eyes shifted to the ceiling above her, and back to Natsu who had his arms spread across the back of the couch watching her with an unreadable expression. "And I must be insane, because I have never been happier in my life. Crazy, right?" She finished through giggles.

Natsu leaned forward, inches from her face, and a blush covered her cheeks immediately. "Crazy people are the best kind of people," he grinned, pulling her into his arms and dragging her back to his side of the couch without really thinking. He stretched out again, with her against his chest, absently tracing circles over her back. Lucy looked up fixing him with a searching look, before settling into his embrace choosing not to read too much into the gesture. The pair spent the evening relaxing, enjoying dinner and chatting randomly through the night and Lucy spent the majority of that time searching for a way to ask Natsu about his seemingly subconscious impulse to cuddle with her. As he chowed down on the food in front of him, she cocked her head to the side, a spoonful of food temporarily forgotten, as she considered the range of emotions coursing through her. 'Could I be falling for Natsu? Or do I just feel this way because I've never had a friend like him before?' He downed the remainder of his beer before his eyes met hers and her face erupted in a blush that could rival Erza's hair, he gave her an unbelievably smug look having caught her staring.

"Something catch your attention there, Luce?" He asked, pride tinging his voice as he smirked at her.

"What, no, not at all… I was just thinking you better slow down before you choke on your food!"

He gave her a knowing smile, "whatever you say Loonie."

. . .

It had been a few days since the newly formed Dragon Soul team had returned home, and Natsu, Haru and Lucy were making their way towards the guild, Happy flew around them as usual. Fall was approaching and the air was crisp, the colours brilliant and the blonde gushed over Magnolia's beauty, not for the first time. Haru was telling Natsu that he and Gray were going to take a short job up on mount Hakobe and asked if they wanted to come along, presenting the mission flyer.

Natsu's eyes raked over a simple herb retrieval mission and he shrugged, "nah, doesn't look like much fun, and the reward isn't very large to split between four of us." He slapped a hand across the water mage's back, "you guys have fun, maybe Lucy, Erza and I will take a job."

"Erza left yesterday on an S class mission that personally requested her, she'll be gone for a while, but she said she'd be back for the Harvest festival to celebrate with us."

That caught Lucy's attention, "the Harvest Festival?" She questioned and the Twin Dragons turned their attention to her as they continued down the cobble stone streets.

"Yeah! One of four big festivals the town and the guild celebrate, it's a blast, one big party Magnolia-wide!" The fire mage explained excitedly.

"It's kind of one of the ways Fairy Tail gives back to the town for putting up with our rambunctious tendencies, we go all out to entertain the towns people, and have a brilliant time while we're at it!" Haru added.

The blonde bounced on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands, "that sounds amazing! I can't wait," she called. Her comrade's enthusiasm was intoxicating, and she skipped forward a few steps, "come on Natsu, let's find a job of our own, I want some spending money for the festival!"

"Now we're talking!"

Bursting into the guild, it seemed most of their family were around today chatting happily and cheering for Mira who was singing on stage. Lucy approached request board, waving to Makorav and Cana, talking animatedly at the bar as she passed. Despite the early morning, a pink telltale dusting across both their faces gave away their intoxication as they enthusiastically discussed how to top the previous year's Fantasia Parade. Lucy made a mental note to ask one of her guildmates what that was as well. Stopping at the large board next to Nab, her eyes scanned the requests on the board looking for something with a reward big enough to cover rent and some spending money. "Better pick something good Lucy," Happy commanded as he landed on her shoulder.

"Oh yeah! Here we go," she exclaimed, tearing a request off the board, she held it out for the blue cat to see as well as she read through the details and he echoed his agreement. Lucy cheered and bounced over to the table where Natsu was sitting with Haru and Gray watching Mira's performance. As the ivory mage's singing faded, the boys clapped and cheered, and Mira smiled at them before she made her way back to the bar. Haru left them to get the Hakobe mission recorded, and spent more time chatting with Mira than Lucy thought would have been necessary to get a mission flyer stamped. She raised an eyebrow watching as Mira giggled at something Haru had said, before Gray's impatience got the better of him and he yelled at Haru to hurry up. The water slayer turned toward them, saluting Gray with his middle finger, before saying goodbye to Mira and returning to help Gray finish getting organized to leave. The ice mage shifted his pack on his shoulder and bid a farewell to his teammates, Haru followed suit waving at them and the blonde shouted a good luck as the two exited the guild hall.

Waving to the retreating forms of his friends, Natsu looked over his shoulder at the blonde, "so what did you find Luce?" She handed him the flyer in response, confident in her choice. She was right, it was a perfect mission for them, a decent reward, provided Natsu didn't destroy too much, and potential to 'scorch some butts' as he put it. The request came from Balsam Town just to the west of Magnolia, a group of bandits had been pickpocketing, harassing and generally causing problems for the town's visitors. As a town dependent heavily on tourism, the bandits were putting a major dent in their revenue as people were beginning to avoid travelling due to the bandit activity. "Awesome! I'm all fired up, let's go Lucy!" He spun on his heel slapping the flyer down on the bar in front of Mira, "put us down for this one, Mira!" The bar maid pressed the stamp down on the bottom corner of their request and wished them luck as Natsu requipped the flyer away.

. . .

Balsam town was close enough that Lucy took pity on the dragon slayer and they agreed to take the half day trek to the neighbouring town. There was no real rush after all, the Harvest festival was still a few weeks away and this request shouldn't take them too long. Natsu walked with his hands interlinked behind his head, Lucy chatted happily about the job being in the renowned spa town, and suggested that they enjoy some time pampering themselves after their mission. Happy giggled, "you just wanna go to the hot springs with Natsuuu and sneak a peek," he sang out from behind his paw. Lucy froze, ripping him out of the sky and pulled on his whiskers ruthlessly in retaliation, Natsu just cocked his head at the scene. He'd noticed that Happy had been teasing the blonde even more than usual lately, implying her romantic interest in the him every time the chance presented itself. He wondered if the blue cat knew something he didn't. Sure, he'd caught the blonde staring more frequently, and had definitely noticed how easy it was to make her blush… a skill he seemed to be perfecting quickly much to his amusement. But he still wasn't sure if there was anything more to it than their close friendship and her ease to fluster. A familiar smell broke his attention away from the squabbling blonde and cat, and his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the treeline surrounding them slowly.

The abrupt change in his demeanor didn't go unnoticed by Lucy and she released Happy's reddened cheek, "hm? Something up Natsu?"

Shifting his attention to her out of the corner of his eye, Natsu continued to focus on his enhanced senses trying to pinpoint the smell. "I'm not totally sure, but I think we're being followed." Lucy moved closer to the fire mage's side and scanned the forest they were currently walking through as well. "Lucy… this smell, it's the same one I picked up in your apartment the other day."

The blonde gasped, "are you sure?" She tensed, but neither mage seemed to be able to find any movement in the trees, and Natsu regrettably announced that he'd lost the scent not long after. Lucy raised a hand to grip Natsu's biceps, and he looked down at her, "you think I'm being stalked?"

"Doesn't matter, I would never let anyone hurt you," he promised, "let's keep going, we're not far from Balsam Town now, and we've got a hot spring to enjoy," he finished with a toothy grin. She nodded slowly and sensing her continued anxiety the mischievous pinkette threw in, "don't worry Loonie, I'll even let you bathe with me!" Natsu laughed as her whole face turned red, yeah, that would never get old. But he'd only teased her knowing that it would defuse her lingering concerns. In her embarrassment, she cuffed him in the back of the head and stomped off down the trail again. The fire mage smiled widely, 'she sure is feisty,' he linked his hands behind his head again and followed after the fuming blonde.

Later that evening

Lucy and Natsu entered Hosenka Spa and Inn, the fire mage was dragging a foursome of half-conscious men and one woman bound with a length of rope. The lobby of the inn kept with the rest of the town's theme of stunning oriental architecture and Natsu's glance swept over the ornate sand garden that framed the far wall as he made his way to reception. He leaned an elbow on the counter and tapped the small bell, drawing a petit woman in a simple kimono from the back office asking how she might help.

Natsu gave her a toothy grin, jabbing a thumb at his chest, "I'm Natsu Dragneel, my teammates here are Lucy and Happy, we're with Fairy Tail. We came here to respond to the request the resort manager and some other merchants placed…" he trailed off. Lucy stopped paying attention to the conversation, beaming; she didn't think she'd ever get over the swell of pride that came with being introduced as a member of the most powerful guild in Fiore.

"Earthland to Lucy," Natsu's voice broke her out of her daydreaming, and she focused on the room key he was dangling in front of her face. "They're providing us with a suite for the job and including hot spring access."

Lucy cheered excitedly snagging the key out of the fire mage's fingers and bouncing on the balls of her feet with uncontained excitement, 'best mission ever!'

While the Fairy Tail mages were gushing over the free stay, the receptionist contacted the manager on a communication lacrima and one of the rice paper walls slid open as the resort manager appeared. He approached the trio, "thank you so much for responding Fairy Tail, my poor hotel hasn't seen even half occupancy in weeks, if we don't get this resolved, we will be forced to close—"

The fire mage laughed heartily, tossing the restrained bandits at the manager's feet, "I believe, these are your culprits, idiots made the mistake of swiping Lucy's keys while we were talking with one of the merchants on our way over here. It was quite the unexpected welcome, but it sure made our job easy!"

The manager blinked dumbly down at the bandits, it seemed unbelievable that after weeks of being harassed by these four, they'd been thwarted before he was even aware Fairy Tail had accepted the request. "Uh, well… I suppose, if that's done already." He scratched his head in surprise still eyeing the pathetic looking bandits, "you might as well enjoy the Hosenka resort, it is the least we can do, please let us know if we can do anything to make your stay more enjoyable."

"Aye sir!" Happy cried out, blowing passed Lucy and swiping the key from her hands before disappearing down the hall in search of their suite.

"Hey! Get back here you mangy furball," Lucy shouted pivoting and darting after the cat. Natsu raised an eyebrow as he watched his companions disappear, he looked back at the resort staff, thanked them both and wandered down the hall as well. The pinkette found the door wide open and walked into a lavish room furnished with two large beds, a couch and table in front of a fireplace. Natsu followed the giggles to the open patio, the rice paper doors pulled wide open, leading to small private hot spring. Happy was already floating on his back in the spring and Lucy had squatted down to dip her hand in the water, "Natsu! Can you believe this place, they weren't kidding about the luxury suite!"

He smiled at her excitement, "no doubt, I'm going to grab us some food, what do you want?"

"I just want to soak the night away in this spring!" "FISH!"

Laughing at his friends, Natsu turned to leave, "alright, enjoy then, I will be back with some food soon."

. . .

Waltzing back into the resort with a couple bags of take out in his hands, Natsu decided if the food was half as tasty as the strange chef's forehead was tall, then the meal would be delicious. But his anticipation for the food was cut short and he stopped dead as he pushed the door to their suite open, dropping the bags of food on the floor. "What the…" he growled and charged forward bursting out onto the patio, Happy was passed out on one of the stones and Lucy was leaning back into the edge of the spring with her eyes wide and an arm trying to cover her ample chest as she looked back at an unknown man across from her. "What the hell is going on here?!" Natsu yelled stepping up beside Lucy and pulling her from the spring and behind his body, Lucy clung to his shoulder as she eyed the toned man with spikey orange hair.

The intruder ignored Natsu out right, in fact he didn't even acknowledge his arrival, just continuing to stare down the blonde over his shoulder.

"It was you, you're the one who has been following Lucy." Natsu tried again, he felt the blonde's grip tighten on his arm, he was getting more pissed off by the second with the other man's bored attitude.

Finally breaking his silence, the ginger narrowed his eyes, "Lucy Heartfilia," he stated, "tell me, what is so special about you?"

"Eh?!" Lucy exclaimed, "why don't you tell ME, you're the one stalking me, you creep!"

"I do not see why my brethren choose to put their lives on the line for you." He growled, his indifferent demeanor giving way to disgust.

Lucy was about to ask him what the hell he was talking about when Natsu interrupted, "though we have no idea what you're talking about, I can say with confidence that all of those of us willing to put our lives on the line for Lucy, do so because she would do the same for any of us."

The man across from them gritted his teeth, "is that so? Well I don't trust you, but my brethren do, what I am going to tell you is for their sakes, not yours." Lucy and Natsu exchanged a tense glance.

"Stop talking in riddles ya jerk!"

"I am Leo, leader of the Twelve Zodiac," he paused as the two mages before him gawked openly and blurted questions that he proceeded to ignore. "And though I trust no human, I will warn you that your father has plans in motion to bring you back under his control."

The stellar mage gasped out of fear, "w-why tell me this, and why have you been following me?!"

"Your father contracted me to track you down and report back on anything I learned, he is the perfect example of the deplorable behaviour of humans." Leo spat, and ignored Lucy denying that she was anything like her father. "I've been following you for quite a while, and I am aware of the bonds you hold with several of the Zodiac. Any fight you get dragged into, will affect them as well, that is the only reason I am alerting you to his plans." He crossed his arms, eyes hovering on the key pouch resting on her robe folded to the side of the spring. "I am warning you, if any of my friends are harmed because of you, I will show you no mercy."

Natsu shot across the small hot spring in a fiery flash and Lucy squealed having been exposed, dropping into a squat to protect her modesty. Natsu had a grip full of Leo's tie in his fist and a ball of fire whirling around his other, "stupid move threatening Lucy in my presence," he bit out in a dangerously low voice.

Leo raised a taunting brow at the fire mage, "be seeing you around, Lucy," he promised and Natsu's punch met nothing but golden light. The fire mage cursed under his breath, before approaching Lucy who was hugging her knees to her chest. He draped her robe over her shoulders and knelt down next to her as she pulled the fabric tighter around herself.

"Hey, it'll be okay," he told her, lifting her chin to look at him, "it's like I said when we first met, Fairy Tail protects its' own from any threat, that includes Leo, and your father." He brushed her bangs back and pressed his lips to her forehead and she took in a surprised breath, turning teary eyes on him.

He handed her keys to her as she got back to her feet, pressing them to her chest to feel the warmth of the magic reassuring her. She nodded, "yeah, thanks Natsu."

Natsu woke the next morning with Lucy's weight draped across his body, her arm was lazily wrapped around his hip and a leg threaded between his own. He felt his cheeks heat at the position, but peering down at the slumbering blonde he chose to remain still, not wanting to disturb her sleep. It had been a rough night; Lucy had been completely distraught after Leo's unexpected and unwelcome visit. She couldn't make sense of the spirit's distain for her and the news that her father was up to who knows what… well, to say she had been on edge, would be an understatement. Lucy had leaned against the headboard of her bed, holding Happy in her lap and absently stroking the cat's fur more for her own comfort than for Happy's pleasure. Natsu had joined her sitting close by, but not saying anything, and she had slowly begun to tell him about her strained relationship with her father.

She had explained to him that her father had never been warm, but when her mom had passed while she was just a child, the shred of fatherly affection he'd had died with her. On his best days her father had been indifferent and cold, on his worst he became physically abusive, but regardless of his mood he always demanded complete obedience. Just a few months before her 16th birthday he'd informed her that she was to marry the heir to the Junelle fortune securing a business venture. She'd escaped the Heartfilia estate just days later, living in hotels, never staying in one city long enough for her father to catch up with her, never allowing herself to trust anyone. That is, until she'd met Natsu two years later and everything had changed impossibly fast, she'd dared to believe she could live outside of her father's shadow for the first time.

Natsu had remained silent, allowing her to talk everything out and when she had fallen quiet, he hadn't offered any verbal reassurance. It was clear she already had confidence that Fairy Tail could handle whatever her father dished out, even if she felt anxious over how it could affect her guild. So, he'd just suggested that they return to the guild in the morning to discuss the news with Makorav and she'd agreed, mentally preparing to share her family history with her new family.

Natsu turned his head and found a ball of blue fur curled up on the pillow Lucy had abandoned in favour of turning him into her own personal body pillow. The cat and the blonde were still both fast asleep, and the pinkette briefly considered trying to sneak out of Lucy's grasp to hunt down some breakfast. But before he could begin freeing himself, the stellar mage released a content sigh, then she shifted in her sleep, dragging her arm over his hip and across his groin to rest on his upper thigh. He froze at the brief friction sucking in a breath, if she moved like that anymore, he was going to pounce on her before she knew what was happening… 'Okay, enough of that!' He thought frantically, bringing the arm that was pinned under her form to her shoulder to gently shake her awake, hoping she wouldn't beat him when she noticed their intimate proximity.

The blonde curled into his side further, burying her face into his chest, "Lucy, come on, it's time to wake up," he coaxed softly.

Her eyes fluttered open and her weight moved briefly as her eyes took in her current position before she yelped out an apology and leaped away from his body. She blinked down at him as he rolled on to his side resting his head on a propped elbow to observe her, "hey don't worry about it, can't really complain about waking up with you in my arms," he said with a brilliant smile. She stuttered out a variety of incoherent words as he climbed out of bed and pulled his vest on, wrapping his scarf around his neck as he looked back over his shoulder at the shocked blonde. "Come on Lucy, Happy," he said as he tossed a pillow at the slumbering cat, startling him from his sleep, "let's find some breakfast and get back home."

A/N. *I am aware that in the Anime the town is called 'Hosenka,' it is Balsam Town in the manga, so I decided to call the resort 'Hosenka.'

ALRIGHT, Leo's on scene! Slowly hashing out how our missing favourites will start making appearances. I'm messing around with bits and pieces and ironing out the plot outlines for the Tower of Heaven, Edolas and Tenrou arcs right now. (Having a little too much fun with them…) Shout out to gmilena1525, for the support and letting me bounce some ideas around.

See ya Saturday!

R&R.

xx Loka Muse